Sheet-metal follower



Jan. 29, 1929. 1,700,317

7 M. KAMENSTEIN SHEET METAL FOLLOWER Filed Jan. 13, 1927 INVENTOR ATTORN EY WWW Fate-rated Jan. 29, 1929.

UNETE .F'a'lA'lUES MEYER KAMENSTEIN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SHEET-METAL FOLLOWER.

Application filed January 13, 1927. Serial No. 160,819.

The invention relates to a follower or follower block of the type which is usually in the form of a wooden block and mounted in card index and like boxes to hold the contents thereof in position.

Attempts have been made heretofore to con-= struct these follow-up blocks of metal but such metal blocks are expensive and are otherwise unsatisfactory due, among other reasons, to

the fact that they have to be made of separate parts and parts riveted or otherwise fastened together to form the completed structure.

It is required in this art that the follower fit accurately in the boxes for which they are designed and this requirement is particularly necessary in the case of metal boxes which are at present designed and constructed accurately to preset proportions.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an all-metal follower which can be formed accurately to the required dimensions; in which every follower of the same rated size will be exactly of the shape and dimensions of every other similar follower, and

which follower can be produced in quantity and without necessity of welding. or other assembling of separate parts.

Broadly, this invention is attained by the designing of a sheet-metal blank cut and folded so in such way as will provide a conventional form of article-engaging support and at the same time provide the necessary uprights or wings for supporting the same in its proper position.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of device embodying my invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a view in plan of a blank of sheet metal constituting a preferred embodiment of the invention and before the parts have been bent into the final form;

Fig. 2 is a view looking down upon the blank shown in Fig. 1 at the termination of the first bending operation;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the finished structure at the termination of the second and final bending. operation; and

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the finished follower.

in the following description and in the claims, parts will be identified by specific names for convenience of expression but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit.

Referring to Fig. 1, it is understood that the blank 10 is cut by means of suitable dies from sheet metal preferably a thin gauged steel and that any number of identically the same form of blanks may be cut with the same die. The blank includes a substantially rectangular central portion 11 from the opposite short ends of which extend wing-forming portions 12 and 13 of similar construction and design exceptthat they are reversed in position. The wing-forming portions each include an inner triangular shaped portion 14 and outer end rectangular portions 15. The central rectangular portion 11 is defined on the sides abutting the triangular portions by bending lines 16 and similarly the sides of the triangular portions 14 adjacent the outer portions 15 are defined by bending lines 17. The central portion 11 has its corners notched as indicated at 18 and 19 so that in the subsequent bending operation the opposite long edges of the'central portion may be bent out of the plane of the remaining portion to form flanged edges 20 and 21.

In the bending operation, the wing-forming portions 1.2 are bent along the lines 16 and until the triangular portions 14 are di posed substantially at right angles to the plane of the central portion as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3. The end portions 15 are then bent back towards the triangular portions as indicated in Fig. 2 and finally the end portions 15 are moved into abutting engagement with the portions 14 to form double thicknesses of material to constitute uprights 22 at opposite ends of the inclined central portion shown in Fig.4. The parts are so designed that the lower edges 23 of the uprights'rest firmly on the bottom of the box or other support and the article engaging the central portion 11 is given the requisite inclination to the vertical by the proper designing of the triangular portions 14.

The follower has a snug but freely sliding fit in the box in which it. is designed to be positioned and it is within the scope of the disclosure to make the lower edges 23 sufficiently long to provide the necessary area of support. The form of follower illustrated is also designed to have the upper edges of the uprights 22 engage in downwardly facing grooves formed by overturning theupper edges of the sides of the box.

By means of a construction such as herein disclosed it is possible to form a highly satisfactory form of follower from a thin gauge or sheet metal and this form can be constructed simply by means of two bending operations on a conventional form of bending machines As the blanks are all cut by the same die the resulting structures will be accurately formed and all alike and the entire article is completed without necessity of welding or riveting and in fact the manufacture involves simply the cutting of the blank and the subsequent twostep bending operation.

While I have shown and described and have pointed out in the annexed claims certain novel features of my invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Ablank for use in forn'iing a follower for card and like boxes, comprising a single sheet of metal including a substantially rectangular central portion and wing-forming portionsat opposite ends of the central portion, said wing-forming portions each including an inner triangular shaped portion and an outer rectangular shaped portion, said wing-forming portion adapted .to be bent along the line connecting the triangular tangular central portion and wing-forming portionsat opposite ends'of the central portion, Silltl-W'l31P-f0l1n]11g portions each including an inner triangular shaped portion and.

an outer rectangular shaped portion, said wing-forming portion adapted to; be bent along the line connecting the triangular shaped portion to the central portion into position perpendiculauto the plane of the central portion and the outer rectangular shaped portion adapted to be bent back against the trangularshaped portion along theline connecting the same, and the upper and lower er ges oi the central portion adapted to be bent out of the plane ofthe same to form flanged edges. v

3. A one-piece sheet-metal iollowjer for boxes and the like comprising an upstanding central portion and wings at opposite ends thereof and integral therewith said wings con'iprising a double thickness of material and constituting a pair of uprights disposed at an angle to the central portion, and said central portion extending an angle to the bottom edges of the wings.

Signed at Brooklyn, in thecounty ot' Kings and State of New York, this 18th day of OC tObGI'yAuD 1926.

MEYER KAMENSTEIN. 

